PITTSBURGH – Notre Dame players stretched out in the corner of the Heinz Field lower bowl Saturday night, masked up and toting grab-and-go meals in a moment of relaxation.
A well-earned one, at that, after coach Brian Kelly revealed earlier how he challenged them this week. Kelly issued an entreaty more demanding than extra practice or more up-downs.
“We have to elevate our play if we want to have any chance of getting to our goal, and that is to win a championship,” he said after the Irish’s 45-3 win over Pitt that pushed Notre Dame to 5-0 and 4-0 in the ACC.
In other words, the 4-0 start wasn’t good enough. It was as if he heard the message board chatter and angst after last week’s 12-7 win over Louisville. Above all, he loudly hinted he’s well aware the biggest regular-season game of his tenure is on the doorstep, one that will shape Notre Dame’s championship opportunities and bring reality to their aspirations.
Kelly’s way of acknowledgement: Telling his team the display from the prior month wouldn’t win that game and win a title. So reach back and find more. Take it to someone.
Turns out, his plea was one Notre Dame had an easy time meeting.
“We're not interested in just winning football games,” Kelly said. “We're interested in being a championship football team and just playing to win games is not good enough anymore, we need to elevate our compete level, we need to coach better. We need to play better.”
You’ll be hard pressed to find a starker contrast to his “winning his hard” credo seven days earlier was. Complete opposites. Notre Dame’s dominant day was the response to him.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly highlighted the importance of downfield plays heading into in the game, because Pitt’s defense bottles up running games and plays a lot of man coverage. Kevin Austin’s season-ending foot re-injury revealed Saturday and Notre Dame’s struggles to win downfield made that a scarier task.
The Irish needed somebody, and grad student Bennett Skowronek raised his hand. His two touchdown catches totaled 107 yards, and on both, he adjusted to haul in a contested throw. His season has quickly turned from wayward to valuable in a span of two games. He demonstrated the downfield ability he showed in three years at Northwestern.
2. Ian Book's Productive Day
Quarterback Ian Book’s 53 percent completion rate isn’t eye-popping, but it’s offset in part by the explosive gains Notre Dame found in the air all day. Receivers had room to run after the catch. Shot plays were available.
Book averaged 19.5 yards per completion and had six throws of at least 20 yards, though only one traveled more than 20 yards downfield. A couple more completed shots would have been good to see, but Notre Dame’s pass-catchers are skilled runners too. That can’t be discounted as a source of yards.
3. Tough Running
If nothing else (and there was little else), Pitt’s run defense performed as advertised. Notre Dame had two runs of 10-plus yards, and both were on Book scrambles.
All told, Notre Dame ended the game with 120 sack-adjusted rush yards on 2.5 yards per carry. But it stayed away from negative plays. Pitt, which came in averaging nearly five sacks and 11 tackles for loss per game, forced seven negative plays while Notre Dame’s starters were in the game. Notre Dame converted all six of its third and short situations.
“Great game, it was very business-like. It was a matter-of-fact performance which was good to see. Offensively speaking, it seemed like the training wheels are finally off. They are really starting to dig in and prepare for Clemson. They are starting to switch things up and pull out some trick plays, too.
“I was very pleased with the win. We have been in a building process. With the previous weeks’ opponents, they knew they were better than them and tried some things out and moved some personnel around. They did some different things offensively and schematically that I liked. It was just a very business-like approach this week. The team had more juice and more energy today. I really think getting away from home would change things for this team and give them some more juice and that is what we saw today. We saw more sustained energy and push which is nice to see. They still left some plays out there, which in a way is encouraging. Book was high on some throws today but all in all it was good to see the turnovers on defense and special teams. This was as close as we have seen to a complete performance.”
Quick playoff take: In a shocking concession of honesty, coach Brian Kelly bucked the coach speak of "one game at a time" and said, "We are looking ahead a little bit." The Irish know they face Clemson in two weeks -- following what should be an easy win Saturday at Georgia Tech -- and Kelly challenged his team to start playing up to that level now. "We're not interested in just winning football games," he said. "We're interested in being a championship football team." Notre Dame looked capable of that at Pitt, where the Irish played a complete game in all three phases. Remember, Notre Dame is part of the ACC this season, so even if the Irish lose at home to Clemson during the regular season, they could get a second chance at the Tigers in the ACC title game. An upset in that game would make for a very interesting debate in the committee meeting room.
Toughest remaining test: Nov. 7 vs. Clemson. This isn't the only game that can derail a perfect season for Notre Dame. Don't forget about the Nov. 27 Friday night trip to North Carolina, which has improved drastically in the second season under Mack Brown.
Kelly not only answered questions that directly referenced No. 1 Clemson and its date with Notre Dame in two weeks, but he evoked the thought voluntarily.
“The challenge this week was so much more about individuals and the team understanding that what’s important now is also about what’s important next,” he said in his postgame opening remarks. “There’s an understanding with this group that everything they do now has bearings on who we are as a football team later in the season.”
Kelly felt a need for the Irish to prove to themselves what they can be, that they will have a chance on Nov. 7. Struggling against a disappointing Louisville team left palpable doubt in that regard. Playing Pittsburgh off the field in all three phases brought with it some belief.
That belief alone will not top the Tigers, and if things had gone sideways in the Steel City, this change in tone would most likely have been stuffed in Kelly’s back pocket and never been acknowledged publicly. But things did not go sideways, and Notre Dame suddenly has an idea what it looks like at its best.
“It’s risky, in some instances, people would say you’re looking ahead,” Kelly said. “We are looking ahead a little bit. We needed to get this football team to understand that they are really good.”
Kelly has coached the Irish for 11 years now and his career spans three decades. He has presumably never before said, “We are looking ahead a little bit.”
Notre Dame hosts Clemson in 13 days. It might not pull off the biggest Irish upset in 27 years, but it is now feasible the-team-that-used-to-not-be-named may face something it is not accustomed to, an opponent without fear.
“Play fearless, go get the football, attack all the time,” Kelly said of his charge. “Because we’re going to need to look like this down the road if you want to fulfill any of your goals.”
Notre Dame will not need that approach this coming weekend, but that is no reason to shelve the long-lost aggression. If it was good enough for Pittsburgh, it can serve well against the-team-that-needs-not-be-named, because it isn’t Clemson.
